Top 15 Music Albums Of 2018 That Got Us Grooving To Them

2018 is coming to a close and honestly, this has been one the most musically rich years and giving rides around the sun in recent memory. Making a year end list for anything is always a tricky affair because there is just waaaay too much to consume. I honestly haven't even scratched the surface of the sheer volume of amazing albums that have come out this year. One thing's for certain though: the future is exciting, the album format isn't going anywhere and the best things come from the quietest places.

Anyway here we go:

15. Tierra Whack - Whack World

No other album that came out this year is more tailor-made for the internet age as Tierra Whack's 'Whack World'. 15 songs, 15 minutes and 1 absolutely delightful music video. Check this one out if you like your listening experiences to be bite-sized, or if you tend to get distracted easily.

14. Rosalia - El Mar Querer

Seamlessly blending traditional Spanish Flamenco music with modern RnB, Pop, and Neo Soul, Rosalia's sophomore album further cements her place as a leader of the Spanish new wave by breaking through language barriers with a stunning and emotionally charged vocal performance.

13. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

The Edinburgh trio continue their unique take on hip hop, punk, noise, pop and RnB while still keeping their songwriting abilities fresh as ever. 'Cocoa Sugar' keeps the emotional quotient high while surrounding it with a blend of a myriad of musical styles.

12. Julia Holter - Aviary

One of the longer albums on this list, but an absolutely essential listen for fans of chamber pop, experimental jazz, and modern orchestral music. Julia Holter weaves a beautiful tapestry of sounds that deal with themes of memory, the nature and importance of art, love and natural beauty.\

11. Yves Tumor - Safe In The Hands Of Love

The enigmatic Turin-based experimentalist returns with what in my opinion is his most honest and accessible record till date. It is deep, complex and melancholic but never has a dull moment and is still pretty much a straight up pop record when broken down to its elements.

10. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

'Some Rap Songs' marks the elusive Earl Sweatshirt's return to his lyrical and experimental best. This is not an album for traditional hip hop or 'trap rap' heads. Expect lo fi, stuttering and heavily sampled time signature fluid beats accompanied by Earl's meditative, buried and self reflective flow. A short listen, but one that requires your full attention.

9. Kelman Duran - 13th Month

13th Month is an idiosyncratic deconstruction of reggaeton and west coast hip hop inter spliced with choir vocals, interview snippets and protest speeches. One of the most apocalyptic yet club adjacent releases this year.

8. Low - Double Negative

It's hard to believe a band as late into its career as 'Low' can still come out with one of the year's most relevant and surprising albums. The slowcore veterans create a brooding, atmospheric and austere environment on 'Double Negative' that is at once heavy with emotion and weightless in its movement.

7. Westside Gunn - Supreme Blientele

Griselda records figurehead Westside Gunn has one of the most unique voices in modern day hip hop. The Buffalo natives high pitched, raw, snarly delivery packs more punch than a baseball bat to the face. On 'Supreme Blientele', Gunn gives us what Griselda records is best known for, grimey East Coast loops, posse cuts and all the street talk we can handle (which is a lot).

6. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want

The Rhode Island Post Hardcore misanthropes return after nearly a decade to deliver one of the most psychotic, chaotic and blistering noise / no wave / post hardcore albums of the past 5 years. Warning: this is not an easy experience.

5. Death Grips - Year Of The Snitch

Probably the Sacramento trio's least hip hop inspired album yet. This time around the guys embrace the sounds of hard rock and punk to unnaturally combine with their mutant take on electronica, free form jazz freak outs, harsh noise and power electronics.

4. Hermit And The Recluse - Orpheus Vs. The Sirens

I'll say it right here right now - Ka is one of the most criminally underrated artists of the 21st century. He is easily the best rapper out there and as a producer he conjures some of the most rich, complex and meditative soundscapes that work so perfectly with his voice that it's hard to imagine him rapping over anything else. However on 'Hermit and the Recluse', Ka teams up with producer Animoss and this time takes on the Greek Epic of Orpheus.

3. Kids See Ghosts - Self Titled

Everybody's favourite celebrity to hate and the legendary hip hop crooner come together to give us one of the year's most beautiful, life affirming and experimental hip hop records. Kanye and Kid Cudi are a veritable powerhouse, both seemingly back in tip top creative shape, traversing everything from grunge, hard rock and soul to give us an album that literally nobody expected to be THIS good.

2. Sophie - Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides

We can easily call it the defining pop album of the decade. This is emotionally tense, cathartic, calming and life affirmingly beautiful all in one. Sophie has cemented herself as one of the brightest stars of our generation and the future of pop production.

1. Playboi Carti - Die Lit

This brings me to my favourite album of 2018 and by no means is it the “best” album or anything idiotic like that. This goes way beyond that. What we have here is an infectious, psychedelic, minimalistic, hypnotic almost hymn like take on the sound that is nearing its peak in 2018, i.e. mumble rap. Across these tracks Carti, squeaks, squirms and yelps with childlike mischievousness, repeating the same phrase sometimes through the entire verse; but that doesn't matter. What we get here is an overall effect that drowns you with harshly bright synths, subterranean thuds and trap hi hats that spitter and spatter on top of the concoction, almost going toe to toe with Carti's infectious adlibs and singular phrases. This is the most avant garde mumble rap will ever get and I'm not even entirely sure Carti intended for it to be like that, but oh my god is this thing highly, highly addictive.